The Mech Touch

The more Ves traveled, the less significant each location became.

It all started to blur together at one point. While his first forays outside of the Bright Republic affected him in profound ways, nowadays he barely paid attention to the states the expeditionary fleet was passing through.

It didn't matter anyway. The fleet didn't intend to engage with the local institutions and just wanted to cross through foreign territory without dealing with any complications. The fact that there were many other ships and fleets trying to do the same helped with allowing the Golden Skull Alliance to fade into the background.

Though the combined fleet was extremely formidable and made many local system defenders nervous, as long as all of the carriers along with their bountiful mechs remained in the outer system, there was no cause for concern.

It was different today.

After a lengthy trek where the expeditionary fleet had not rested for several months, the starships could all use a break. Even if they were rated for more arduous journeys, it was still a good idea for them to halt at a port system in order to perform routine maintenance and inspections.

Stopping at a port system was also a great opportunity to replenish supplies, sell redundant goods and hire thousands of new recruits.

Port systems like Pelsa Ryndover served as large, attractive hubs for any ships and fleets that needed replenishment.

The Pelsa Ryndover System belonged to a notable second-rate state called the Ivena Federation. Compared to other states, Ivena was a rather loose territory that was divided into many provinces that were dominated by different commercial groups and alliances.

The closest comparison was the Friday Coalition. When Ves initially learned about the Ivena Federation, he mentally regarded it as a more commerce-oriented version of one of his least-favorite states.

The Ivena Federation was situated in the Vilsam York Star Sector, a rather average star sector of the Bardo Star Cluster.

None of these names mattered to Ves. As long as these areas didn't have any dangerous or unusual characteristics, there was no need for him to delve into the history and cultures of his stopover points.

Neither the state, star sector or star cluster were characterized by any significant traits. None of them were dominated by dwarves, female supremacists, religious nuts, glory hounds or other crazies. The Ivena Federation was merely a state that took advantage of its favorable location to attract a lot of commerce.

One of the reasons why Ivena acquired a favorable reputation among trade fleets was because the state did not impose too many restrictions on visitors. While there were signs that the Crown Uprising might cause the state to tighten up its security measures, it would take some time to pass the relevant laws.

In the meantime, the Larkinsons were allowed to bring a sufficient amount of mechs to the surface of any trading planet. Even if Ves did not intend to leave the fleet this time, it was still a reassuring measure as the nightmares of Prosperous Hill VI still haunted the clan.

There was good reason for Larkinsons such as Shederin Purnesse to visit the trading hubs in person. The Larkinson fleet was constantly expanding. The planned acquisition of four whole capital ships demanded a huge expansion of spacers.

Fortunately, the Vivacious Wal, the Andrenidae, the Discentibus and the Blinding Banshee were not as difficult to crew as the Spirit of Bentheim.

The Hexer-built factory ship that the Larkinsons acquired first was an upgraded vessel that incorporated many advanced production, energy generation and defensive systems. It was not without reason that a lot of difficult functions had to be crewed by trained Hexer officers and specialists.

The second-hand vessels that the clan intended to acquire next were more regular vessels built to civilian standards. The only exception was the Blinding Banshee which was built according to paramilitary standards, but all of her basic functions were not that complicated to control.

This meant that it was barely sufficient to crew the vessels with ordinary spacers who came from a merchant marine background. Only the captains, chief engineers and a number of other critical functions had to come from better stock.

Though it was difficult to source high-quality spacers, in the worst case scenario the clan would just promote a bunch of existing officers who were currently serving aboard one of the many sub-capital ships.

As Shederin Purnesse briefed Ves on their upcoming rest stop, he did not consider the staffing issue to be a major problem.

"Merchant marine officers usually aren't available on the open job market, but they congregate in their own circles." The old man patiently explained. "In every port system, there are numerous guilds, clubs and associations where a large number of spacers band together in order to take care of each other and make themselves available for hire by vetted, trustworthy employers."

Ves frowned a bit. "Are we a vetted, trustworthy employer?"

"No. Our clan is not only a new and volatile organization, but we are also strangers in this region of space. We also have a history of getting embroiled in several large-scale battles. All of these factors put our clan in the high-risk employment opportunity basket. Merchant mariners tend to abhor risk. Their dream is to work a stable job, travel the entire galaxy and retire on a paradise planet with a hefty amount of savings."

Space travel wasn't entirely safe, so the people who trained and studied to serve aboard space-faring vessels had to make careful decisions. The wrong choice could easily ruin their lives forever!

"How do we overcome these hiring challenges, then?"

"Not every spacer is as conservative and risk averse as you think." Shederin confidently smiled. "As long as we offer enough incentives, we can pull in the more greedy and ambitious spacers. Our clan already offers excellent benefits to its members. Also, don't forget that as the Crown Uprising rages across the galaxy, many positions are no longer safe as before. There is a greater appreciation to work for employers that possess ample strength. Another factor that could serve as a powerful attraction for spacers was the prospect of entering the Red Ocean."

All of these reasons and more gave the Larkinson Clan enough of a chance to fill up at least half of the vacant positions aboard the new and existing ships of the Larkinson fleet.

"Since we are acquiring so many capital ships at once, I do not expect we will be able to staff them completely. It is already sufficient to crew them with the bare minimum so that they will be able to travel with the rest of the fleet without delaying our journey. We can slowly fill the remaining positions as we continue to recruit in subsequent star systems."

There were only so many spacers available in every location. With space travel booming due to the opening of the Red Ocean and the recent establishment of the Gate Consortium, practically every ship rating with decent qualifications were able to find a berth.

Ves inwardly sighed. The people and assets that his clan needed the most just happened to be popular with other organizations as well. This was the downside to getting caught up in galactic trends. The Larkinson Clan was just one of many followers of recent developments.

The only way for the clan to become less dependent on external services was to take care of its needs by itself.

In the long term, Ves believed that his clan would probably be able to grow to a point where it could build its own starships and train plenty of qualified personnel from within.

The problem was that his clan needed the ships and the people to crew them right away. It took years if not decades for the Larkinsons to meet their own needs by relying on their own capabilities. That was fine if they were already settling in for the long haul, but right now the clan had to rush its growth so that it could enter the Red Ocean on a stronger footing.

"I don't want to waste this trip." Ves told Shederin with a determined tone. "I'm giving you one week to acquire the capital ships in our sights. We can solve the crewing issue easily enough, but we absolutely have to secure the vessels that will become our foundation in the Red Ocean."

While the capital entertainment ship, capital mining ship, capital academy ship and capital espionage ship did not directly increase the combat power of the Larkinson fleet, they still provided powerful auxiliary functions that would comprehensively boost the growth of his clan. Without their presence, it became a lot harder for the Larkinsons to stick to a nomadic way of life.

Ves did not want any of his men to develop a yearning to settle on a planet or any other permanent settlement. The best way to stave off this undesirable desire was to round out the fleet.

"I will endeavor to persuade the vendor to sell the ships to us." Shederin promised.

Several days passed by after the diplomat made his promise. While Ves devoted most of his time to developing the high-powered energy rifle of the Sentry Project, the entire fleet slowly made its way to Talulah Silver, a famed trading hub of the Pelsa Ryndover System.

Talulah Silver was a moon that orbited Pelsa Ryndover III. The stormy, toxic planet was deemed uninhabitable and not worth terraforming, but the moon was calm enough to serve as an excellent base for heavy goods storage and transfer due to its naturally low gravity and relatively stable conditions.

Practically the entire surface was urbanized to various degrees. Cities, manufacturing complexes and lots of warehouses covered the entire moon. Tens of thousands of major companies were either headquartered at Talulah Silver or established major branches on the surface.

The Crown Uprising didn't seem to have affected business all that much. The local authorities tripled their security presence in and around the moon settlement. While the risk of terrorist attacks were considerable, that did not stop the visiting traders from conducting business.

No matter how much the state of the galaxy deteriorated, goods still needed to flow and bills still needed to be paid. It was impossible for businessmen to stop their activities just because the risks had been raised.

Of course, the Larkinson Clan and its allies were far from average. As their formidable capital ships and hundreds of combat carriers surged forth, the local military garrison grew very nervous at the approach of so many combat vessels.

Traffic control instructed the powerful foreigners to keep all of their serious hardware well away from the inner system. However, Shederin Purnesse began to show his value at this instance. He served some kind of nonsense story about their experiences in the Prosperous Hill System and somehow managed to allow the fleet to enter the inner system with remarkably fewer restrictions than Ves anticipated.

While the fleet still had to be parked well away from the hustle and bustle of Talulah Silver, at the very least backup would not have to take days to arrive at the moon settlement.

Of course, not even Shederin was able to convince the local officials to give the Larkinson Clan permission to field an entire mech regiment on Talulah Silver, but the clan was willing to make do with 'just' several hundred mechs.

The bribes he paid to more pliable officials helped a lot with securing this concession.

With so many escorts, Ves didn't believe that anyone was willing to stir up any trouble against his men.

As the expeditionary fleet entered into a stable orbit, a large number of shuttles, transports and larger vessels began to venture towards the trading hub.

Ves wasn't paying attention in this direction. Instead, he called up the local plot and set his sights on a distant orbit where a lot of derelict and mothballed starships had been parked.

"Those are a lot of ships."